About nine months after a rash of supposed black panther sightings in the New Orleans area, employees of a St. Tammany Parish office building reported seeing such an animal Wednesday to the Sheriff's Office. Experts have discarded North American black panthers as myths, but the unidentified people working in a building on the service road near the Interstate 12 westbound entrance ramp from U.S. 190 south of Covington nonetheless called deputies about noon and said they had seen one in the area.

View full sizeThe St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's OfficeWorkers in an office in St. Tammany Parish called sheriff's deputies and reported that this animal is a black panther they spotted near U.S. 190 and Interstate 12 south of Covington about noon on Nov. 30, 2011. Though experts have said black panthers do not exist in North America, reported sightings persist.

Someone snapped a photograph of the animal and provided it to the agency, which is in the process of consulting the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries on the matter, sheriff's spokesman Capt. George Bonnett said.

Bonnett asked residents to be aware of the creature's presence and to dial 911 if it is seen close to people, especially small children.

The scientific community is usually skeptical of these kinds of reports.

Earlier this year, following a spate of reported sightings of black panthers in St. Tammany, St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, the manager of Wildlife and Fisheries' large carnivore program told The Times-Picayune that the only black panthers that exist are black jaguars found in South America and black leopards that live in Asia and Africa.

The North American black panther is usually classified as "cryptid," a creature whose existence has been suggested but is not recognized by scientists, as is the case with the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot.

And while some people, including local law enforcement officials, have discussed the possibility of a black cougar in our midst, experts have assuredly said that black cougars do not exist at all. They come only in tawny and fawn colors, ranging from light gray-brown to a brownish orange.

In fact, scientists have concluded that Louisiana does not have a breeding population of cougars in any color.